Below is the inspirational story which demonstrates the power of the Human Spirit. From a single vision and the collective passion of several individuals around the world the children of El Shaddai orphanage in Kigali, Rwanda experience a better life, more opportunities and a brighter future.
The Journey
Sylvestre Nzitukuze was a good soldier. He served in the Rwandan National Defense Forces until an inescapable vision tore him away to a new life. "I don't know where or how it came, but I knew I had to leave the army and help the street kids," he exclaims. With permission from the military, he took an honorable discharge and became a champion of the street children in Kigali, the capital of Rwanda, a country still reeling from the 1994 genocide that left over a million orphans.
As Rwanda and its Capital City, Kigali, was reorganizing in the aftermath of the 1994 genocide, Sylvestre Nzitukuze offered a safe haven to boys who had been living in the streets and picking through garbage to survive. These boys were suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, homeless, orphaned and angry. Many had turned to drugs to dull their pain.
As one could imagine, as the number of boys grew, the walls of their humble home became strained. Sylvestre was able to find an abandoned warehouse, and with the permission of the landowner moved the boys to their new home. Soon there were 150 former street boys living in the warehouse and 250 children attending “Catch-Up” School, all receiving at least one daily meal of corn, cassava and beans.
The Rwandan Orphan Quilting Project was first conceived by US residents Dottie Webster and Suzanne Connolly after their first visit to Rwanda. While doing trauma- relief work with genocide survivors at El Shaddai orphanage in Kigali they worried about the older children who would be leaving the orphanage with little education and no job skills.
While in Rwanda they purchased as much of the beautiful real wax processed African batik fabric as they could fit in their suitcases. Back home in the US the Sedona Red Rock Quilters, headed by local resident Winnie Wells used the fabrics to create six beautiful sample quilts which Dottie and Suzanne took back to Rwanda the following year.
After their first trip to Rwanda they found that Dr. Sandra Bagely formerly with the U.S Embassy in Rwanda had also dreamed of helping the older children by teaching them to create quilts. Dr. Bagley contacted a friend, quilter Daisy Gale, who also accompanied Dottie and Suzanne on the return trip to Rwanda.
The Children created one wall hanging under Daisy’s tutelage, using the scraps of fabric left over from the Red Rock Quilter’s creations. Tucked into a suitcase, this bit of fabric in the form of the first quilt made by the children of El Shaddai, crossed the Atlantic for the third and final time. It was purchased soon after for $400.00. The Children were in business.
Suzanne and Dottie pooled their resources and paid a Rwandan quilting teacher and a quilting project business manager, a small amount to keep the momentum going. They are hoping that the project will soon be self-sustaining.
What you see below is the very first quilt produced by these children. It is made of 100% cotton real wax process batik and quilted by hand by six orphans all of whom survived the 1994 genocide.
The money received from quilt purchases will be returned in entirety to the Rwandan Orphans. One half will go to the quilters who created this beautiful piece of artwork and nearly one half to the orphanage itself, serving 400 orphans most of them formerly street children. A small percentage will go to pay a local quilting teacher and to purchase materials. See available quilts for sale at Artless Impact
